Close to nature silviculture is an alternative to a forest management system based on the clear cutting regeneration and cultivation of even-aged coniferous monocultures. The history of close to nature silviculture dates back to the second half of the 19th century, when the first attempts were made ...

Fire-sustained open oak and pine forests were once widespread across eastern North America, but are now comparatively scarce. To regain the goods and services of these open forests, managers are increasingly looking to restore them with the silvicultural systems and tools best suited to meet their...

Forest ecosystems are shaped by their historical disturbance regime. Structural and species diversity are driven by disturbance frequency, patch size and microsite disturbance severity in forests across the globe. Forest management in Lake State northern hardwoods, however, has primarily used...

Over the past two decades, more than half a million acres of forested land has experienced extensive insect- and disease-caused tree mortality within the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region 2 (R2) of the National Forest System. To plan for timber harvest treatments needed to restore forest...

The long history of fire in North America spans millennia and is recognized as an important driver in the widespread and long-term dominance of oak species and oak natural communities. Frequent wildfires from about 1850 to 1950 resulted in much forest damage, and gained fire a negative reputation....

Woodpeckers are important forest species because they prey on tree pests and have been argued to act as keystone species through their effects as ecosystem engineers, creating breeding and shelter sites for numerous vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. We reviewed literature on tree characteristics...

In this paper, we examine the implications of managing for sustained yield in a world characterized by growing risk and uncertainty. We review the history of sustained yield (SY) forestry in North America, with an emphasis on economic benefits and the persistence of the SY paradigm today, despite a ...

Functional diversity (FD), represented by plant traits, is fundamentally linked to an ecosystem's capacity to respond to environmental change. Yet, little is known about the spatial distribution of FD and its drivers. These knowledge gaps prevent the development of FD-based forest management...

Silviculture can be a powerful tool for restoring and enhancing habitat for forest-dependent wildlife. In eastern North America, regenerating timber harvests support abundant wildflowers that provide essential forage for native pollinators. Factors driving floral resource availability within...

The microclimate in forest ecosystems can be altered by modifications of stand structure due to forest management or natural forest development. Current forest management practices in Central Europe and North America aim to promote structural heterogeneity and maintain forest canopy cover, which is ...